After Manchester-based indie band the Answering Machine's recent Drummonds gig, with support from hectic art-poppers Rapids!, we spoke with TAM lead singer Martin about his experiences with the first gig of the new album tour...
Hey there! What did you think of Aberdeen?
Well, I'm not kissing arse here, but Aberdeen is our favourite place to play a show, hands down! We have been there three times, once with Rumble Strips and twice for headline shows. We're so shocked and amazed at the city's buzz and enthusiasm! (and scantly clad women, for such a cold city!) It feel like everyone makes such a huge effort to have a good night out!
They're used to the cold, that's what it is! How did you find your "first tour", then? What you expected?
It was our first tour promoting the new material from our second album, but we did a load of tours for the first album! We're almost veterans, at the age of 25! Ha. The tour was pretty amazing, if not a little awkward, playing new songs that no-one's ever heard before. We'll be playing a big song from our first album and people are going nuts, then we'll break into a new one and it feels like the room goes silent. Ha. I'm sure that's just a few nerves though. We're really proud of our new songs. They're really interesting to play live too, lots more instrumentation and experimentation.
I did notice a larger range of instruments for the newer material - including Pat's bizarre blowing thing - what was that? And since when did you play drums?
Haha, that's called a Melodica! Mick, who runs our label, just randomly bought it for us one day! He said he liked the look of it! So then the task was to write it into a couple of songs! I actually play it as a lead instrument on one of the songs on the new album called 'The End'! Oh, and as for the drums.... We did a tour last year with a band called Casiokids, and they moved from one instrument to the next. We wanted to try a similar thing. I've been teaching myself drums for the past few weeks.
I know Casiokids, actually! Didn't realise they would be an inspiration. Well, for a beginner you're pretty bloody good. How were Rapids!, then, during the tour? How many mic stands did they shatter..?
They're amazing live! And a lovely group of guys! We'd bonded like true men over a round of Sambucas at a club in Glasgow.. I think Matt shattered his mic stand in London, snapped the bottom off! They'll never make any more on the road, it all just goes on fixing broken equipment! Ha. It was their first tour as a band too, so they were extra excited, made us feel old actually!
I did notice they seemed to be a little... full of beans, as it were. I notice you took an odd stance on being compared to the Pigeon Detectives of late - who would you compare your sound to? Who inspired your second LP?
Yeah, I was a little shocked at that comparison. I'm all for people having an opinion on music and band comparisons seems an easy way to describe a sound, but I can't even see where this reviewer's coming from. A whole heap of things inspired the new EP, but I guess the main thing we wanted to do was to break down the sound of Another City Another Sorry. Although we love our debut album, we just felt it was all in 5 gear so to speak, I wanted this album to drop in a gear a lot, I'd even go as far to say that it reverses half way through the album, with some mad instrumental song! ;) It's a contemporary reference, but I wanted to have the sparse sounds of The Whitest Boy Alive. There's also hints of Radiohead and The Radio Dept in there. I'm also a big fan of The Shins, so a couple of songs have that US Indie Folk edge to them.
Sounds like a pretty nice mix of inspiration in there - folk sounds interesting, like you're doing what Bombay Bicycle Club did with Flaws. I'll make this the last question, then - are you looking forward to playing in Europe?
I can't enthuse enough about this European tour! I've always wanted to travel across Europe, regardless of being in a band. So to get the chance to do it with your best friends, in a van, drinking European premium lager, well... it's a dream! We've played one show in Amsterdam before now, and we also played Ibiza Rocks with Dirty Pretty Things a couple of years back, but apart from that, this'll be a first! I'm most excited about playing Paris and Berlin, for obvious reasons, but also I can't wait to play in Luxembourg! I never thought I'd be playing there! We really like Tokyo Police Club too, so it's great to be doing this tour with them! We'll bring you back some Bratwursts!
Joe Sutherland
@foxhuntingx
Hey there! What did you think of Aberdeen?
Well, I'm not kissing arse here, but Aberdeen is our favourite place to play a show, hands down! We have been there three times, once with Rumble Strips and twice for headline shows. We're so shocked and amazed at the city's buzz and enthusiasm! (and scantly clad women, for such a cold city!) It feel like everyone makes such a huge effort to have a good night out!
They're used to the cold, that's what it is! How did you find your "first tour", then? What you expected?
It was our first tour promoting the new material from our second album, but we did a load of tours for the first album! We're almost veterans, at the age of 25! Ha. The tour was pretty amazing, if not a little awkward, playing new songs that no-one's ever heard before. We'll be playing a big song from our first album and people are going nuts, then we'll break into a new one and it feels like the room goes silent. Ha. I'm sure that's just a few nerves though. We're really proud of our new songs. They're really interesting to play live too, lots more instrumentation and experimentation.
I did notice a larger range of instruments for the newer material - including Pat's bizarre blowing thing - what was that? And since when did you play drums?
Haha, that's called a Melodica! Mick, who runs our label, just randomly bought it for us one day! He said he liked the look of it! So then the task was to write it into a couple of songs! I actually play it as a lead instrument on one of the songs on the new album called 'The End'! Oh, and as for the drums.... We did a tour last year with a band called Casiokids, and they moved from one instrument to the next. We wanted to try a similar thing. I've been teaching myself drums for the past few weeks.
I know Casiokids, actually! Didn't realise they would be an inspiration. Well, for a beginner you're pretty bloody good. How were Rapids!, then, during the tour? How many mic stands did they shatter..?
They're amazing live! And a lovely group of guys! We'd bonded like true men over a round of Sambucas at a club in Glasgow.. I think Matt shattered his mic stand in London, snapped the bottom off! They'll never make any more on the road, it all just goes on fixing broken equipment! Ha. It was their first tour as a band too, so they were extra excited, made us feel old actually!
I did notice they seemed to be a little... full of beans, as it were. I notice you took an odd stance on being compared to the Pigeon Detectives of late - who would you compare your sound to? Who inspired your second LP?
Yeah, I was a little shocked at that comparison. I'm all for people having an opinion on music and band comparisons seems an easy way to describe a sound, but I can't even see where this reviewer's coming from. A whole heap of things inspired the new EP, but I guess the main thing we wanted to do was to break down the sound of Another City Another Sorry. Although we love our debut album, we just felt it was all in 5 gear so to speak, I wanted this album to drop in a gear a lot, I'd even go as far to say that it reverses half way through the album, with some mad instrumental song! ;) It's a contemporary reference, but I wanted to have the sparse sounds of The Whitest Boy Alive. There's also hints of Radiohead and The Radio Dept in there. I'm also a big fan of The Shins, so a couple of songs have that US Indie Folk edge to them.
Sounds like a pretty nice mix of inspiration in there - folk sounds interesting, like you're doing what Bombay Bicycle Club did with Flaws. I'll make this the last question, then - are you looking forward to playing in Europe?
I can't enthuse enough about this European tour! I've always wanted to travel across Europe, regardless of being in a band. So to get the chance to do it with your best friends, in a van, drinking European premium lager, well... it's a dream! We've played one show in Amsterdam before now, and we also played Ibiza Rocks with Dirty Pretty Things a couple of years back, but apart from that, this'll be a first! I'm most excited about playing Paris and Berlin, for obvious reasons, but also I can't wait to play in Luxembourg! I never thought I'd be playing there! We really like Tokyo Police Club too, so it's great to be doing this tour with them! We'll bring you back some Bratwursts!
Joe Sutherland
@foxhuntingx